Dixiecrats

The States' Rights Democratic Party, better known as the Dixiecrats, was a short-lived conservative and segregationist political party in the United States that was founded at the time of the 1948 elections. The Dixiecrats emerged as a faction within the larger US Democratic Party, and it rivalled the New Deal Democrats and the Republican Party, both of which supported civil rights reforms. Several prominent conservative Southern Democrats decided to bolt from their party in response to Harry S. Truman's nomination for re-election in 1948, and Strom Thurmond ran as the Dixiecrats' presidential candidate, with Fielding L. Wright serving as his running mate. The segregationist Dixiecrats won the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, and they received 39 electoral votes, including a faithless elector from Tennessee. The party never fielded state or local candidates, and its members rejoined the Democrats after Truman won the 1948 election.